Streamlined padding of deduplication repository file systems

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments for repository management in a data deduplication system, by a processor device, are provided. Metadata of a pre-allocated file system is captured and exported. The exported metadata is then imported into a data deduplication repository for configuring the data deduplication repository with minimum overhead.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general computing systems, and moreparticularly to, various embodiments for repository management in datadeduplication systems in computing storage environments.

Description of the Related Art

Today with modern technology, large volumes of data are storable on diskdrives; these drives can exist as a solo entity, or as part of a broadermake up within a larger storage environment. Often times when writing toeven the smallest environment, single drives, duplicate data is written.These duplicated contents can then be DE-duplicated using standarddeduplication techniques so long as specific metrics are met.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments for repository management in a data deduplicationsystem, by a processor device, are provided. In one embodiment, by wayof example only, metadata of a pre-allocated file system is captured andexported. The exported metadata is then imported into a datadeduplication repository for configuring the data deduplicationrepository with minimum overhead.

In addition to the foregoing exemplary embodiment, various other systemand computer program product embodiments are provided and supply relatedadvantages. The foregoing summary has been provided to introduce aselection of concepts in a simplified form that are further describedbelow in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended toidentify key features or essential features of the claimed subjectmatter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scopeof the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limitedto implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in thebackground.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the advantages of the invention will be readilyunderstood, a more particular description of the invention brieflydescribed above will be rendered by reference to specific embodimentsthat are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that thesedrawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the inventionwill be described and explained with additional specificity and detailthrough the use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware structure for performingrepository management in data deduplication systems, in which aspects ofthe present invention may be realized;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware structure of a data storagesystem in a computing storage environment, again in which aspects of thepresent invention may be realized;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart diagram illustrating a method for repositorymanagement in data deduplication systems in accordance with variousaspects of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is an additional flow chart diagram illustrating a method forrepository management in data deduplication systems in accordance withvarious aspects of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Data deduplication is a highly important and vibrant field in computingstorage systems. Data deduplication refers to the reduction and/orelimination of redundant data. In data deduplication, a data object,which may be a file, a data stream, or some other form of data, isbroken down into one or more parts called chunks or blocks. In a datadeduplication process, duplicate copies of data are reduced oreliminated, leaving a minimal amount of redundant copies, or a singlecopy of the data, respectively. The goal of a data deduplication systemis to store a single copy of duplicated data, and the challenges inachieving this goal are efficiently finding the duplicate data patternsin a typically large repository, and storing the data patterns in astorage efficient deduplicated form. A significant challenge indeduplication storage systems is scaling to support very largerepositories of data. Such large repositories can reach sizes ofPetabytes (1 Petabyte=2⁵⁰ bytes) or more. Deduplication storage systemssupporting such repository sizes, must provide efficient processing forfinding duplicate data patterns within the repositories, whereefficiency is measured in resource consumption for achievingdeduplication (resources may be CPU cycles, RAM storage, persistentstorage, networking, etc.).

With the continued advancement of computer processors and memory, datastorage space has begun to lag behind. While storage space has indeedincreased, the demands on the existing space have increased dramaticallyas well. This increase in demands has resulted in new avenues beingexplored to better utilize the given storage at hand. Data deduplicationis one of those avenues. Modern data deduplication users can achieve 10,sometimes up to 20, (or even greater) times the original storagecapacity. In other words, the same user, with the benefit ofdeduplication technology, essentially has the capacity of ten storageunits where the user originally had one, without any additional space orpower requirements.

In some deduplication systems, capacity on the file systems ispre-allocated in order to prevent the operating system from having tostop in the middle of runtime activities and allocate additional spaceon the fly which can slow down processing and cause poor performance. Topre-allocate the content of the file system, a special “filled” bit inthe file system inode metadata structure is set for each block. The termsometimes used in the industry for this pre-allocation operation is“padding” a file system. Using traditional fallocate processing (writingzeros to the file system), the operation is prohibitively timeconsuming, especially on Enterprise class data deduplication systemssuch as the IBM® ProtecTIER™ deduplication system which can scale up to1 Petabyte (PB) of physical deduplication repository capacity persystem. In order to pre-allocate a file system of such capacity toprovide optimal performance, a different solution is needed.

One traditional solution is to issue a fallocate command to the filesystem and intercept the input/output operations (I/O) at the last stackin the layer. Upon interception, it is immediately returned such thathigher level functions and software assume that the I/O has completed tothe back-end disk, when in fact no write actually occurred to the disk.In modern operating this mechanism is no longer supported.

Another solution is to leverage the capability of storage area network(SAN) devices to offload the zeroing out operation to the back-endstorage. For example, VMWare® vStorage™ application program interfaces(APIs) provide the ability to offload zeroing out block regions onback-end storage to a storage controller, such as V7000™. In this case,a single write command is issued to the V7000™, and the V7000™ handlesthe zero out block operation. This solution cannot be used for suchdevices as the IBM® ProtecTIER™ because the IBM® ProtecTIER™ is astorage gateway product that attaches to a wide variety of storagearrays, some of which do not support this capability. In the case of theIBM® ProtecTIER™, it is necessary to pad up to 1PB of storage perProtecTIER™ instance, and the time required to perform such a largescale operation is very tedious without some form of acceleration.

Accordingly, the mechanisms of the illustrated embodiments provideexpedited file system padding processing while allowing for flexiblededuplication repository scaling and eliminating dependency on back-enddisk hardware. In one embodiment, metadata of a pre-allocated filesystem is captured, exported, and compressed. The exported andcompressed metadata is then decompressed and imported into a new orexisting data deduplication repository for configuring the datadeduplication repository with minimum overhead. In other words, themetadata of a fully padded file system is imported into thededuplication repository to avoid having to perform the processindependently.

Turning first to FIG. 1, exemplary architecture 10 of a computing systemenvironment is depicted. Architecture 10 may, in one embodiment, beimplemented at least as part of a system for effecting mechanisms of thepresent invention. The computer system 10 includes central processingunit (CPU) 12, which is connected to communication port 18 and memorydevice 16. The communication port 18 is in communication with acommunication network 20. The communication network 20 and storagenetwork may be configured to be in communication with server (hosts) 24and storage systems, which may include storage devices 14. The storagesystems may include hard disk drive (HDD) devices, solid-state devices(SSD) etc., which may be configured in a redundant array of independentdisks (RAID). The operations as described below may be executed onstorage device(s) 14, located in system 10 or elsewhere and may havemultiple memory devices 16 working independently and/or in conjunctionwith other CPU devices 12. Memory device 16 may include such memory aselectrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) or a hostof related devices. Memory device 16 and storage devices 14 areconnected to CPU 12 via a signal-bearing medium. In addition, CPU 12 isconnected through communication port 18 to a communication network 20,having an attached plurality of additional computer host systems 24. Inaddition, memory device 16 and the CPU 12 may be embedded and includedin each component of the computing system 10. Each storage system mayalso include separate and/or distinct memory devices 16 and CPU 12 thatwork in conjunction or as a separate memory device 16 and/or CPU 12.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram 200 showing a hardware structure ofa data storage and deduplication system that may be used in the overallcontext of repository management in data deduplication systems. Hostcomputers 210, 220, 225, are shown, each acting as a central processingunit for performing data processing as part of a data storage system200. The cluster hosts/nodes (physical or virtual devices), 210, 220,and 225 may be one or more new physical devices or logical devices toaccomplish the purposes of the present invention in the data storagesystem 200. In one embodiment, by way of example only, a data storagesystem 200 may be implemented as IBM® ProtecTIER® deduplication systemTS7650G™, although one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thata variety of deduplication hardware and software, separately or incombination, may be utilized to implement the data deduplicationfunctionality according to aspects of the illustrated embodiments.

A Network connection 260 may be a fibre channel fabric, a fibre channelpoint to point link, a fibre channel over ethernet fabric or point topoint link, a FICON or ESCON I/O interface, any other I/O interfacetype, a wireless network, a wired network, a LAN, a WAN, heterogeneous,homogeneous, public (i.e. the Internet), private, or any combinationthereof. The hosts, 210, 220, and 225 may be local or distributed amongone or more locations and may be equipped with any type of fabric (orfabric channel) (not shown in FIG. 2) or network adapter 260 to thestorage controller 240, such as Fibre channel, FICON, ESCON, Ethernet,fiber optic, wireless, or coaxial adapters. Data storage system 200 isaccordingly equipped with a suitable fabric (not shown in FIG. 2) ornetwork adaptor 260 to communicate. Data storage system 200 is depictedin FIG. 2 comprising storage controllers 240 and cluster hosts 210, 220,and 225. The cluster hosts 210, 220, and 225 may include cluster nodes.

To facilitate a clearer understanding of the methods described herein,storage controller 240 is shown in FIG. 2 as a single processing unit,including a microprocessor 242, system memory 243 and nonvolatilestorage (“NVS”) 216. It is noted that in some embodiments, storagecontroller 240 is comprised of multiple processing units, each withtheir own processor complex and system memory, and interconnected by adedicated network within data storage system 200. Storage 230 (labeledas 230 a, 230 b, and 230 n herein) may be comprised of one or morestorage devices, such as storage arrays, which are connected to storagecontroller 240 (by a storage network) with one or more cluster hosts210, 220, and 225 connected to each storage controller 240 throughnetwork 260.

In some embodiments, the devices included in storage 230 may beconnected in a loop architecture. Storage controller 240 manages storage230 and facilitates the processing of write and read requests intendedfor storage 230. The system memory 243 of storage controller 240 storesprogram instructions and data, which the processor 242 may access forexecuting functions and method steps of the present invention forexecuting and managing storage 230 as described herein. In oneembodiment, system memory 243 includes, is in association with, or is incommunication with the operation software 250 for performing methods andoperations described herein. As shown in FIG. 2, system memory 243 mayalso include or be in communication with a cache 245 for storage 230,also referred to herein as a “cache memory,” for buffering “write data”and “read data,” which respectively refer to write/read requests andtheir associated data. In one embodiment, cache 245 is allocated in adevice external to system memory 243, yet remains accessible bymicroprocessor 242 and may serve to provide additional security againstdata loss, in addition to carrying out the operations as describedherein.

In some embodiments, cache 245 is implemented with a volatile memory andnonvolatile memory and coupled to microprocessor 242 via a local bus(not shown in FIG. 2) for enhanced performance of data storage system200. The NVS 216 included in data storage controller is accessible bymicroprocessor 242 and serves to provide additional support foroperations and execution of the present invention as described in otherfigures. The NVS 216, may also be referred to as a “persistent” cache,or “cache memory” and is implemented with nonvolatile memory that may ormay not utilize external power to retain data stored therein. The NVSmay be stored in and with the cache 245 for any purposes suited toaccomplish the objectives of the present invention. In some embodiments,a backup power source (not shown in FIG. 2), such as a battery, suppliesNVS 216 with sufficient power to retain the data stored therein in caseof power loss to data storage system 200. In certain embodiments, thecapacity of NVS 216 is less than or equal to the total capacity of cache245.

Storage 230 may be physically comprised of one or more storage devices,such as storage arrays. A storage array is a logical grouping ofindividual storage devices, such as a hard disk. In certain embodiments,storage 230 is comprised of a JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) array or aRAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) array. A collection ofphysical storage arrays may be further combined to form a rank, whichdissociates the physical storage from the logical configuration. Thestorage space in a rank may be allocated into logical volumes, whichdefine the storage location specified in a write/read request.

In one embodiment, by way of example only, the storage system as shownin FIG. 2 may include a logical volume, or simply “volume,” may havedifferent kinds of allocations. Storage 230 a, 230 b and 230 n are shownas ranks in data storage system 200, and are referred to herein as rank230 a, 230 b and 230 n. Ranks may be local to data storage system 200,or may be located at a physically remote location. In other words, alocal storage controller may connect with a remote storage controllerand manage storage at the remote location. Rank 230 a is shownconfigured with two entire volumes, 234 and 236, as well as one partialvolume 232 a. Rank 230 b is shown with another partial volume 232 b.Thus volume 232 is allocated across ranks 230 a and 230 b. Rank 230 n isshown as being fully allocated to volume 238—that is, rank 230 n refersto the entire physical storage for volume 238. From the above examples,it will be appreciated that a rank may be configured to include one ormore partial and/or entire volumes. Volumes and ranks may further bedivided into so-called “tracks,” which represent a fixed block ofstorage. A track is therefore associated with a given volume and may begiven a given rank.

The storage controller 240 may include a tracking module 255, a storageutilization module 258, and a reporting module 270. The tracking module255, storage utilization module 258 and reporting module 270 may operatein conjunction with each and every component of the storage controller240, the hosts 210, 220, 225, and storage devices 230. The trackingmodule 255, storage utilization module 258 and reporting module 270 maybe structurally one complete module or may be associated and/or includedwith other individual modules. The tracking module 255, storageutilization module 258 and reporting module 270 may also be located inthe cache 245 or other components.

The tracking module 255, storage utilization module 258 and reportingmodule 270 may individually and/or collectively perform various aspectsof the present invention as will be further described. For example, thetracking module 255 may perform tracking operations and relatedanalytics in accordance with aspects of the illustrated embodiments. Thestorage utilization module 258 may also utilize analytics to determinephysical or virtual storage capacities in view of deduplicationfunctionality operational on particular storage devices. Finally,reporting module 270 may notify various portions of the data storage anddeduplication system 200 about such various aspects as current capacityutilization, and so forth. As one of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate, the tracking module 255, storage utilization module 258, andreporting module 270 may make up only a subset of various functionaland/or functionally responsible entities in the data storage anddeduplication system 200.

The storage controller 240 includes a control switch 241 for controllingthe fiber channel protocol, transmission control protocol/internetprotocol (TCP/IP), Ethernet protocol, or other such standard, to thehost computers 210, 220, 225, a microprocessor 242 for controlling allthe storage controller 240, a nonvolatile control memory 243 for storinga microprogram (operation software) 250 for controlling the operation ofstorage controller 240, data for control, cache 245 for temporarilystoring (buffering) data, and buffers 244 for assisting the cache 245 toread and write data, a control switch 241 for controlling a protocol tocontrol data transfer to or from the storage devices 230, the trackingmodule 255, and the analytics module 259, in which information may beset. Multiple buffers 244 may be implemented with the present inventionto assist with the operations as described herein. In one embodiment,the cluster hosts/nodes, 210, 220, 225 and the storage controller 240are connected through a network adaptor (this could be a fibre channel)260 as an interface i.e., via at least one switch called “fabric”.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a flow chart diagram illustrating an exemplarymethod 300 for repository management in data deduplication systems,among other aspects of the illustrated embodiments, is depicted. Themethod 300 begins (step 302). Metadata of a pre-allocated file system iscaptured, exported, and compressed. The exported and compressed metadatais then decompressed and imported into a data deduplication repositoryfor configuring, or padding, the data deduplication repository withminimum overhead (step 304). The method then ends (step 306).

In file systems in which it is possible to import and export file systemmetadata or the inode structure, importing and exporting such is minimalin comparison to the full size of a file system. In one embodiment, thepresent invention captures metadata of a pre-allocated file system,exports, and compresses it. When building a new deduplication repositoryor expanding an existing deduplication repository, the compressedmetadata of the pre-allocated file system is decompressed and importedto the file system on the new or existing deduplication repository. Thisleverages the need for pre-allocated file systems during runtime of thededuplication system for optimal performance and also provides theadvantage of a highly efficient method for file system pre-allocationthat avoids the system having to write up to 1PB of zeros.

In one embodiment, the compressed metadata for multiple pre-allocatedfile systems of varying size are provided in a code package (e.g. theIBM® ProtecTIER™ code package) by a manufacturer. By way of example, thecode package may provide compressed, pre-allocated file system metadatafor a 1 Terabyte (TB) file system, a 2 TB file system, a 4 TB filesystem, and an 8 TB file system.

Continuing to FIG. 4, a flow chart diagram, illustrating an exemplarymethod 400 for repository management in data deduplication systems isillustrated, according to aspects of the present invention. In oneembodiment, beginning at step 402, during a deduplication repositorycreation process in which the file systems are being allocated onback-end storage, the code package analyzes the size of the file systemsneeding to be created (correlated to logical unit number (LUN) size),and selects the largest capacity pre-allocated metadata being less thanor equal in size to the required repository file system size (step 404).The new file system is then created (step 406). Upon creation of the newfile system, the compressed metadata of the pre-allocated file system isthen decompressed and imported into the new file system (step 408). Ifany additional capacity remains in the new file system that is largerthan the size of the pre-allocated size of the imported pre-allocatedfile system, the code package automatically allocates, or pads, theadditional capacity by writing zeros to the remaining space (step 410).The process of pre-allocation using the compressed and imported metadataof the pre-allocated file systems may be performed in parallel for alluser data file systems in the repository requiring pre-allocation (step412). The method ends (step 414).

In an alternative embodiment, the pre-allocated metadata is not providedas part of a code package (e.g. the IBM® ProtecTIER™ code package) by amanufacturer. In this embodiment, a first file system is fullyallocated, or padded (has zeros fully written to the file system). Themetadata of this file system is exported. During creation of a next filesystem (or a multiple of next file systems), the metadata from the firstfully allocated file system is imported into the next file system. Theconfiguration process is repeated in parallel until each of the newlycreated repository file systems are fully allocated.

In still another alternative embodiment, the system on which theallocation is performed is not a gateway, such as the IBM® ProtecTIER™product, but is an appliance. In such a situation, the size of the userdata file system portion of the repository is known, and therefore thecompressed, pre-allocated metadata of the user data file system may berapidly imported to the user data file systems without the need to padthe end of the file systems if they are larger than the pre-allocatedmetadata. In this embodiment, the file systems are created,pre-allocated file system metadata is decompressed and imported into thecreated file systems. This procedure may be done in parallel for alluser data file systems within the repository.

The present invention may be an apparatus, a system, a method, and/or acomputer program product. The computer program product may include acomputer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readableprogram instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry outaspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

1. A method for repository management in a data deduplication system, bya processor device, comprising: capturing, exporting, and compressingmetadata of a pre-allocated file system from an existing deduplicationappliance, the pre-allocated file system comprising a fully padded filesystem; wherein the exported and compressed metadata of thepre-allocated file system is decompressed and imported into a datadeduplication repository of a new deduplication appliance to initiallyconfigure or subsequently scale a file system of the data deduplicationrepository efficiently; and performing, by the processor device, theinitial configuration of the data deduplication repository in parallelfor all user data file systems within the data deduplication repository.2. The method of claim 1, further comprising including the compressedmetadata for a plurality of pre-allocated file systems according to aplurality of file system sizes within a code package provided by amanufacturer.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising analyzing, bythe code package, a size of the file system to be created during theconfiguration of the data deduplication repository; and selecting, bythe code package, a largest capacity of the compressed metadata of oneof the plurality of pre-allocated file systems being less than or equalin size to the size of the file system.
 4. The method of claim 3,further comprising, upon creation of the file system, decompressing andimporting the exported and compressed metadata into the created filesystem.
 5. The method of claim 3, further comprising automaticallypadding additional capacity, by the code package, being larger than thatof the selected largest capacity of the compressed metadata of one ofthe plurality of pre-allocated file systems.
 6. (canceled)
 7. The methodof claim 1, further including allocating a first file system, exportingmetadata from the first file system, and importing the metadata into atleast one of a plurality of next created file systems, the next createdfile systems importing metadata from the first file system in parallel.8. A system for repository management in a data deduplication system,the system comprising: at least one processor device executinginstructions stored in a memory, wherein, when executed, the processordevice: captures, exports, and compresses metadata of a pre-allocatedfile system from an existing deduplication appliance, the pre-allocatedfile system comprising a fully padded file system; wherein the exportedand compressed metadata of the pre-allocated file system is decompressedand imported into a data deduplication repository of a new deduplicationappliance to initially configure or subsequently scale a file system ofthe data deduplication repository efficiently, and performs, by theprocessor device, the initial configuration of the data deduplicationrepository in parallel for all user data file systems within the datadeduplication repository.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein theprocessor device includes the compressed metadata for a plurality ofpre-allocated file systems according to a plurality of file system sizeswithin a code package provided by a manufacturer.
 10. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the processor device analyzes, by the code package, asize of the file system to be created during the configuration of thedata deduplication repository, and selects, by the code package, alargest capacity of the compressed metadata of one of the plurality ofpre-allocated file systems being less than or equal in size to the sizeof the file system.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processordevice, upon creation of the file system, decompresses and imports theexported and compressed metadata into the created file system.
 12. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the processor device automatically padsadditional capacity, by the code package, being larger than that of theselected largest capacity of the compressed metadata of one of theplurality of pre-allocated file systems.
 13. (canceled)
 14. The systemof claim 8, wherein the processor device allocates a first file system,exports metadata from the first file system, and imports the metadatainto at least one of a plurality of next created file systems, the nextcreated file systems importing metadata from the first file system inparallel.
 15. A computer program product for repository management in adata deduplication system, by a processor device, the computer programproduct embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-readable program code portions stored therein, thecomputer-readable program code portions comprising: a first executableportion that: captures, exports, and compresses metadata of apre-allocated file system from an existing deduplication appliance, thepre-allocated file system comprising a fully padded file system; whereinthe exported and compressed metadata of the pre-allocated file system isdecompressed and imported into a data deduplication repository of a newdeduplication appliance to initially configure or subsequently scale afile system of the data deduplication repository efficiently; andperforms, by the processor device, the initial configuration of the datadeduplication repository in parallel for all user data file systemswithin the data deduplication repository.
 16. The computer programproduct of claim 15, further including a second executable portion thatincludes the compressed metadata for a plurality of pre-allocated filesystems according to a plurality of file system sizes within a codepackage provided by a manufacturer.
 17. The computer program product ofclaim 16, further including a third executable portion that analyzes, bythe code package, a size of the file system to be created during theconfiguration of the data deduplication repository, and selects, by thecode package, a largest capacity of the compressed metadata of one ofthe plurality of pre-allocated file systems being less than or equal insize to the size of the file system.
 18. The computer program product ofclaim 17, further including a fourth executable portion that, uponcreation of the file system, decompresses and imports the exported andcompressed metadata into the created file system.
 19. The computerprogram product of claim 17, further including a fourth executableportion that automatically pads additional capacity, by the codepackage, being larger than that of the selected largest capacity of thecompressed metadata of one of the plurality of pre-allocated filesystems.
 20. (canceled)
 21. The computer program product of claim 15,further including a second executable portion that allocates a firstfile system, exports metadata from the first file system, and importsthe metadata into at least one of a plurality of next created filesystems, the next created file systems importing metadata from the firstfile system in parallel.